contamination
[kuh n-tam-uh-ney-shuh n]
- the act of contaminating, or of making something impure or unsuitable by contact with something unclean, bad, etc.
- the act of contaminating, or of rendering something harmful or unusable by the addition of radioactive material: the contamination of food following a nuclear attack.
- the state of being contaminated: The manufacturer recalled the product because of possible salmonella contamination.
- Rare. something that contaminates a place or substance, as by making it impure, unsuitable, harmful, or unusable; a contaminant.
- Linguistics.
- an alternation in a linguistic form due to the influence of a related form, as the replacement in English of earlier femelle with female through the influence of male.
- the process of forming blends.Compare blend(def 9).
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Origin of contamination
1375–1425; late Middle English contaminacioun < Late Latin contāminātiōn- (stem of contāminātiō), equivalent to contāmināt(us) (see contaminate) + -iōn- -ion
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for contamination
Contemporary Examples
There is one theory that they were both exposed by a Liberian worker in the contamination crew who fell ill.
There has been a lot of concern about contamination of the evidence at the site.
Contamination must be proven with certainty not supposition.
The contamination was ultimately traced back to a scrub technician named Kristen Parker.
So contamination sometimes has more to do with the kitchen or restaurant it came from then the food itself.
Historical Examples
He shrank away as if there had been contamination in my touch.
The Tenant of Wildfell HallAnne Bronte
I am sorry because I believe there is contamination in such a scoundrel.
A Tale of Two CitiesCharles Dickens
At all events she would be spared the contamination of the factory.
The DownfallEmile Zola
Put up a forest of props (as at the Abbey) and keep off touch and contamination?
The ChristianHall Caine
Shall I stop the carriage and remove the contamination of my disgusting person?
ScaramoucheRafael Sabatini
contamination
- the act or process of contaminating or the state of being contaminated
- something that contaminates
- linguistics the process by which one word or phrase is altered because of mistaken associations with another word or phrase; for example, the substitution of irregardless for regardless by association with such words as irrespective
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for contamination
n.
early 15c., from Latin contaminationem (nominative contaminatio), noun of action from past participle stem of contaminare (see contaminate). Figurative sense is from c.1620; specifically of radioactivity from 1913.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
contamination
(kən-tăm′ə-nā′shən)- The act or process of rendering something harmful or unsuitable.
- The presence of extraneous, especially infectious, material that renders a substance or preparation impure or harmful.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.